VIDEOS
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| Above: YouTubeCA video - Kolkata Tram – Kolkata Will Miss Its 143 year old beloved companion, Kolkata Tram - Length: 8:22 mins. | Above: YouTubeCA video - Calcutta's Trams - Length: 7:26 mins. |
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| Above: YouTubeCA video - New Tram-restaurant is winning Kolkata’s heart - Length: 1:44 mins. | Above: YouTubeCA video - Kolkata Metro Rail Documentary - Length: 21:19 mins. |
PHOTOS
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MAPS
INSET: CENTRAL KOLKATA
Abbreviations used on the map:
- A.J.C. Basu Rd.: Acharya Jagadish Chandra Basu Road
- Acharya P.C.R. Rd.: Acharya Praphulla Chandra Roy Rd.
- B.B. Gangopadhyay St.: Bipin Bihari Gangopadhyay St.
- B.B.D. Baag: Binay Badal Dinesh Baag
I created the above maps by overlaying OpenStreetMap (OSM) maps with my own data. Copyright on the OSM maps is © OpenStreetMap contributors, licensed under a CC-BY-SA (Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 licence).
Please note that the OSM maps used as templates for these maps correspond to the situation at the time the maps were downloaded and may show features that did not exist at the time the GS Tram Site is supposed to show. In particular, they may show bridges and highways that were built later.
ROUTES
TRAM ROUTES
Operator: Calcutta Tramways Company
| 1 | Esplanade - Lenin Sarani - Nirmal Chandra St. - College St. - Bidhan Sarani - Shyambazar - Belgatchia |
| 2 | Binay Badal Dinesh Baag - Lalbazar St. - Bipin Bihari Gangopadhyay St. - College St. - Bidhan Sarani - Shyambazar - Belgatchia |
| 4 | Binay Badal Dinesh Baag - Lalbazar St. - Rabindra Sarani - Arabinda Sarani - Shyambazar - Belgatchia |
| 5 | Esplanade - Lenin Sarani - Nirmal Chandra St. - College St. - Bidhan Sarani - Shyambazar (Short-turn of route 1) |
| 6 | Binay Badal Dinesh Baag - Lalbazar St. - Bipin Bihari Gangopadhyay St. - College St. - Bidhan Sarani - Shyambazar (Short-turn of route 2) |
| 8 | Binay Badal Dinesh Baag - Lalbazar St. - Rabindra Sarani - Baghbazar - Galiff St. |
| 10 | Binay Badal Dinesh Baag - Lalbazar St. - Rabindra Sarani - Arabinda Sarani - Shyambazar(Short-turn of route 4) |
| 11 | Howrah Bridge - Mahatma Gandhi Rd. - Bidhan Sarani - Shyambazar - Belgatchia |
| 12 | Esplanade - Lenin Sarani - Sealdah Stn. - Acharya Praphulla Chandra Roy Rd. - Rajabazar |
| 12/1 | Esplanade - Lenin Sarani - Sealdah Stn. - Rajabazar - Acharya Praphulla Chandra Roy Rd. - Shyambazar - Belgatchia |
| 12/7 | Esplanade - Hemanta Basu Sarani - Binay Badal Dinesh Baag - Lalbazar St. - Rabindra Sarani - Baghbazar - Galiff St. |
| 13/2 | Binay Badal Dinesh Baag - Lalbazar St. - Bipin Bihari Gangopadhyay St. - Surya Sen St. - Rajabazar - Acharya Praphulla Chandra Roy Rd. - Shyambazar - Belgatchia |
| 14 | Binay Badal Dinesh Baag - Lalbazar St. - Bipin Bihari Gangopadhyay St. - Surya Sen St. - Acharya Praphulla Chandra Roy Rd. - Rajabazar |
| 15/12 | Howrah Bridge - Mahatma Gandhi Rd. - Acharya Praphulla Chandra Roy Rd. - Rajabazar |
| 16 | Binay Badal Dinesh Baag - Lalbazar St. - Bipin Bihari Gangopadhyay St. - Surya Sen St. - Rajabazar - Acharya Praphulla Chandra Roy Rd. - Satin Sen Sarani - Bidhan Nagar |
| 17 | Esplanade - Lenin Sarani - Sealdah Stn. - Rajabazar - Acharya Praphulla Chandra Roy Rd. - Satin Sen Sarani - Bidhan Nagar |
| 18 | Howrah Bridge - Mahatma Gandhi Rd. - Acharya Praphulla Chandra Roy Rd. - Rajabazar - Acharya Praphulla Chandra Roy Rd. - Satin Sen Sarani - Bidhan Nagar |
| 20 | Howrah Bridge - Mahatma Gandhi Rd. - Sealdah Stn. - Acharya Jagadish Chandra Basu Rd. - Mother Teresa Sarani - Park Circus |
| 20/17 | Park Circus - Mother Teresa Sarani - Acharya Jagadish Chandra Basu Rd. - Sealdah Stn. - Rajabazar - Acharya Praphulla Chandra Roy Rd. - Satin Sen Sarani - Bidhan Nagar |
| 21 | Howrah Bridge - Mahatma Gandhi Rd. - Rabindra Sarani - Lalbazar St. - Binay Badal Dinesh Baag - Hemanta Basu Sarani - Esplanade - Lenin Sarani - Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Rd. - Elliot Rd. - Acharya Jagadish Chandra Basu Rd. - Mother Teresa Sarani - Park Circus |
| 22 | Binay Badal Dinesh Baag - Hemanta Basu Sarani - Esplanade - Lenin Sarani - Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Rd. - Elliot Rd. - Acharya Jagadish Chandra Basu Rd. - Mother Teresa Sarani - Park Circus |
| 25 | Binay Badal Dinesh Baag - Hemanta Basu Sarani - Esplanade - Lenin Sarani - Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Rd. - Elliot Rd. - Acharya Jagadish Chandra Basu Rd. - Mother Teresa Sarani - Syed Amir Ali Av. - Gariahat Depot |
| 26 | Howrah Stn. - Rabindra Setu (Howrah Bridge) - Mahatma Gandhi Rd. - Sealdah Stn. - Acharya Jagadish Chandra Basu Rd. - Mother Teresa Sarani - Park Circus - Syed Amir Ali Av. - Gariahat Depot |
| 26/17 | Bidhan Nagar - Satin Sen Sarani - Acharya Praphulla Chandra Roy Rd. - Rajabazar - Sealdah Stn. - Acharya Jagadish Chandra Basu Rd. - Mother Teresa Sarani - Park Circus - Syed Amir Ali Av. - Gariahat Depot |
| 29 | Binay Badal Dinesh Baag - Hemanta Basu Sarani - Esplanade - Maidan - Khidirpur Rd. - Wattganj Jnctn. - Diamond Harbour Rd. - Alipore - Judge’s Court Rd. - Kalighat - Tollyganj |
| 30 | Binay Badal Dinesh Baag - Hemanta Basu Sarani - Esplanade - Maidan - Khidirpur Rd. - Wattganj Jnctn. - Diamond Harbour Rd. - Alipore - Judge’s Court Rd. - Kalighat |
| 36 | Esplanade - Khidirpur Rd. - Wattganj Jnctn. - Khidirpur Rd. |
METRO ROUTE
Operator: Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation (KMRC)
| 1 | Noapara - Dum Dum - Belgatchia - Shyambazar - Mahatma Gandhi Rd. Stn - Central Metro - Esplanade - Rabindra Sadan - Kalighat - Tollygunje - Kavi Subhash (New Garia) |
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SYSTEM
NETWORK LENGTH
- Trams: 54 km.
- Metro: 27.7 km.
OLD STREET NAMES
Many Kolkata streets have been renamed at some point since independence, but the old names have retained some currency. I tried to use the new names consistently on all maps, even if the old names were used at the time. For the convenience of users I provide both the new and the old names in parallel in the list below:
- Hemanta Basu Sarani - Old Court House St.
- Mother Theresa Sarani - Park Street
- Rajib Gandhi Sarani - Strand Road
- Syed Amir Ali Avenue - Gariahat Road
In some cases, the new street name is simply an adjustment of an anglicized name according to the standardized transliteration of a name in the Bangla (Bengali) language. The list below provides such street names when the new name is significantly different from the old one:
- Acharya Jagadish Chandra Basu Road - A.J.C Bose Road
- Bipin Bihari Gangopadhyay St. - B.B. Ganguly Street
- Binay Badal Dinesh Baag - B.B.D. Bagh
- Nirmal Chandra Street - Nirmal Sunder Street
HISTORY
- Horse tramways: 1873; 1 Nov. 1880 - 1905
- Steam tramways: 1898 - 1900
- Electric tramways: 1902 - today.
- Underground (Metro): 24 Oct. 1984 - today.
GAUGE
- Tramways: originally 1000 mm, but from 1900: 1435 mm (standard gauge).
- Underground (Metro): 1676 mm (broad gauge [Indian standard on railways]) (lines 1 & 3); 1435 mm. (line 2).
SOURCES
- Claydon, G.B. "Calcutta revisited - Part 1: The present scene (administration, finance and traffic)", Modern Tramway & Light Rail Transit, Jan. 1982 (45: 529), p.10-18.
- Dean, R.N. "Tramways in Calcutta today", The Modern Tramway, June-July 1945 (8: 90-91), p.41, 46, 49, 51.
- Runnacles, T.V. "Transport in Calcutta - Part 7: Aspects of tramway operation today", Modern Tramway & Light Rapid Transit, Feb. 1978 (41: 482), p.49-60.
- Russell, M. "Calcutta: Trams still thriving - but for how much longer", Tramways & Urban Transit, May 2006 (69: 821), p. 176-179.
- Russell, M. "Kolkata tramways: A modest revival?", Tramways & Urban Transit, Aug. 2011 (74: 884), p. 321-324.
- Russell, M. "Surviving by a thread", Tramways & Urban Transit, June 2023 (86: 1026), p. 244-245.
WIKIS
WEB SITES
Thanks to Ashis Mitra (from Kolkata, India) for the large amount of information he has kindly given me about the history of tramways in his city. He has also made corrections to pages I had already placed on my site.
Thanks are also in order to Lars F. Richter (from Hamburg, Germany), who kindly sent me information on the new terminal arrangements at Binay Badal Dinesh Baag.
Copyright Gabor Sandi 1998-2024
Disclaimer: Everything on this site was written and/or prepared at the author's discretion. The author has tried to be accurate where facts are presented, but this does not mean that these facts are necessarily accurate. People needing more reliable information should refer to appropriate sources presented, on the Internet or elsewhere, by authoritative professional or academic bodies.
To get in touch with the webmaster, send an e-mail to g_sandi at hotmail.com.
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